


Getting Help

by Roxyjaws



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Gobber the Belch is underrated, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless Friendship, Hiccup needs sleep, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares, Post first movie, Protective Toothless (How to Train Your Dragon), Recovery, Stubborn Hiccup, phantom pains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22850284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roxyjaws/pseuds/Roxyjaws
Summary: After the events of the first movie, everyone needs help with getting used to their new lifestyle on Berk. One needs more help than some. Hiccup doesn't seem to realize that he's working too hard helping everyone with their dragons while he should be taking it easy to recover from his lost leg.Hiccup needs to take care of himself! Being the stubborn viking that he is, it's up to Toothless to find help for Hiccup, whether he wants it or not.
Relationships: Gobber the Belch & Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless
Comments: 6
Kudos: 150





	1. Toothless' Help

The few weeks following Hiccup's awakening after defeating the Red Death had the young Viking hero very occupied. He barely had any time to himself, excluding, of course, the morning flights he had with his beloved dragon, Toothless. The village seemed to respect Hiccup and Toothless' alone time when the sun came up. As soon as they landed though, the people of Berk were all over him, asking questions or —for the less delicate Vikings— demanding answers about dragons.

During that time, Hiccup went left and right solving problems and teaching hard headed Vikings how to train their —often very proud— dragons. This was challenging, for it was hard for some Vikings and dragons to earn each other's trust after a vicious 300 year old war. Both parties had to neglect a big part of what they had learned throughout their lives. Yes it was difficult, but not impossible. The people of Berk seemed to be on the right track. It's not the Viking's fault if they're rough, it's in their nature. The dragons seemed to be starting to understand this; how were they supposed to know that Vikings are tough and loud 24/7 and not only in battle? Dragons were always more open to trust Hiccup for these reasons, which became quite annoying for those who asked for his help only to see their dragons, which they thought vicious and hyper, be incredibly calm and kind towards Hiccup. To say the least, everyone was impressed by Hiccup's capabilities.

Hiccup, on the other hand, felt exhausted. Only a few thoughts kept him from going crazy when no one seemed to know how to treat their dragons. _At least they're not hurting the dragons anymore_ he'd think. _At least I'm not the only one dealing with this_ he'd also think. Astrid and Fishlegs were very helpful and pitched in a lot to help keep the peace between Vikings and dragons. Even Snotlout and the twins helped, to some extent. Of course, the teens also needed help sometimes and they all went to none other than, guess who... Hiccup! The thought that kept Hiccup going the most though, was the following: _At least Toothless is by my side._

Toothless. That dragon loved his rider so much he wouldn't leave his side, especially after having almost lost him following the battle of the Red Death. The strength of the bond between Hiccup and his dragon is immeasurable and beyond any Viking's imagination. Since Hiccup woke up, they were inseparable. Even before he woke up, it was impossible to get that dragon out of the house! They depended on each other. Toothless needed Hiccup to fly and Hiccup needed Toothless to walk. Of course, Hiccup would learn to walk on his prosthetic himself, but during his first weeks, having someone to lean on was almost a necessity. Toothless was more than happy to help his best friend go through a tough time.

And man was it a tough time! Between flying and running around helping everyone and taming dragons all day, plus with all the attention he was suddenly getting, Hiccup didn't have time to realize that he was wearing himself out. He was still recovering from an amputation for crying out loud! The only time he gave his leg any attention was at night.

Hiccup would sit on the edge of his bed, that had been taken downstairs, and he'd take off his prosthetic with a hiss, which would earn him a sad croon from Toothless. After reassuring his dragon that he's fine, he would drop on his wooden mattress and fall asleep before his head would hit the pillow, since he'd always be absolutely exhausted from his day.

Of course, it always sailed right over Hiccup's head to change his bandage, partially because he didn't want to touch his stump since he knew it would hurt, and partially because he really did forget with everything going on in his head. Fortunately, Stoick made sure that his son's leg received proper treatment.

Toothless didn't fail to notice that Hiccup's sleep seemed uneasy. Knowing that he also needed rest, Toothless went in the corner of the room and lied down, falling in a light sleep so he could stay alert and wake up if his rider had a problem. He was supposed to sleep outside, but after noticing the bags under Hiccup's eyes and how he seemed to get worse with every passing day, Toothless wanted to make sure he at least had a good night sleep.

No one but Toothless seemed to notice Hiccup's exhaustion. The signs were subtle. Hiccup didn't make as many sarcastic remarks, his smile didn't seem to reach his eyes anymore and Toothless mostly noticed that while walking, Hiccup seemed to place a lot more weight on Toothless than before. This didn't bother the dragon at all, but it did worry him. Shouldn't it be the opposite? Shouldn't Hiccup walk more and more on his own, rather than needing the support more and more? Toothless was getting worried, so he wanted to keep an eye on Hiccup while he slept, to see if he'd been sleeping well and to make sure that he did.

It didn't take long before Hiccup started tossing and turning. Mumbling inaudible words. Toothless was up and by Hiccup's side in a second. Hiccup had a frown and kept mumbling "no...Don’t k-kill......t-Toothless...no..." a few tears started to escape from under his eyelids. Toothless knew his buddy was having a nightmare about when they were separated before the battle, but he wouldn't dare wake him up. Not when he needed to sleep so badly. Hiccup sleeping wouldn't stop Toothless from comforting him though. The night fury placed his head on the bed, near Hiccup's and purred comfortingly in his ear.

Feeling his best friend's presence, Hiccup slowly stopped tossing and turning and mumbling. His face relaxed as he exited his nightmare and fell into a better sleep. Feeling very happy with himself, Toothless remained where he was, staring at Hiccup steadily breathing. He was about to return to his previous spot when Hiccup turned on his side and subconsciously brought a hand up on Toothless' head. The dragon froze. He didn't dare move or even breathe for a few seconds, out of fear of waking up the sleeping sleep deprived boy. When he saw that Hiccup had no intension of moving, Toothless decided to just fall asleep there. The bed wasn't too high for him to sleep with only his head on it and he felt reassured that if Hiccup had another problem, it would be short lived with him nearby.

The duo remained like this, regaining much needed energy, for a few hours. Then, at about 1 in the morning, Hiccup's peaceful sleep was cut short by a now familiar tingling sensation in his stump of a leg. He woke up, surprised at seeing his dragon so close. _Doesn't he usually sleep outside?_ Then he braced himself for the pain that was sure to come. The tingling sensation was already intensifying, starting to hurt, making him feel tense and blurring his vision. One thought crossed his mind. _I don't want Toothless to see me like this_. But Hiccup knew that if his dragon was this close to him when he was in pain, he'd be sure to wake up. In vain, Hiccup turned his back on Toothless, thinking that if he doesn't see him...he might not hear him...

Hiccup curled in on himself, grabbing his left leg that was already hurting like crazy and gingerly rubbing it. It felt like it was on fire. Again. He willed himself not to scream, but couldn't stop the gasps, groans and whimpers that escaped his lips nor could he stop the tears that spilled on his pillow. Everything went fuzzy in Hiccup's head. All he was aware of was the pain, he didn't notice that Toothless had been awake from the moment he turned around, nor did he notice him desperately trying to comfort him by purring and crooning with worry. Hiccup didn't notice his dragon at all until he started nudging him and licking his tears away.

Finally acknowledging his night fury's presence, Hiccup said through his teeth "gn...t-Toothless...'m fine *gasp* go back to...sleep".

Needless to say, Toothless was not at all convinced by this shaky statement that was followed by a whimper that broke the dragon's heart. He didn't like seeing his rider like this. Not at all. He would do anything in his power to make it stop, to help Hiccup, but Toothless had no idea what to do. He couldn't stop the Viking's leg from hurting. A part of him was yelling at him that this was all his fault for not catching the young hero fast enough, whereas another part of him told him that this was not the time to riddle himself with guilt. If he couldn't make the pain stop, he'd have to comfort Hiccup and make this all easier on him.

Without another thought, Toothless grabbed the pained —and now surprised— Viking and pulled him in a warm scaly embrace, then he purred. Hiccup was very surprised by this action... Maybe more than he should have been. What else should he have expected from his overprotective friend? Though his leg still hurt a lot, he was comfortable. His tears stopped as he tried to ignore the pain and focus on something else. Toothless' purring, Toothless' breathing, Toothless' heartbeat. The pain in his leg started to lessen and, before long, it ceased entirely.

Hiccup took a few shaky breaths before mumbling "thanks bud". Toothless crooned in response, and rolled on his back to bring his wing around Hiccup, making him yelp, then he rolled back on his side. Hiccup was enveloped in darkness and lulled back to sleep by listening to his dragon's heartbeat. This was the first time he got the pain to end so quickly and the first time he was able to go back to sleep after.

Toothless couldn't help but feel bad for the boy. Had he been going through this every night? This must be why Hiccup seemed so tired all the time. He hasn't had a good night sleep in a while. The dragon also felt mad at himself for not noticing this before. He was always _right outside_ sleeping without a care in the world while Hiccup was going through _this_. Did his father know? Toothless doubted it. Hiccup tells Toothless everything, yet he decided to hide this. He must have been trying to act all Viking like about this, saying he's fine, being as quiet as possible, toughing through the pain. Toothless was slightly upset at Hiccup for not confiding in him, but at least, now that he knew, the dragon could finally help his rider... But how?


	2. Gobber's Help

Hiccup woke up and though he opened his eyes, all he saw was black. It took him a few moments to remember what happened during the night and why he couldn't see. Hiccup whispered loudly "Toothless" only to realize that his dragon was still asleep, though it didn't seem to be a light sleep this time. Hiccup tried to push Toothless enough to get out, but this only resulted in Hiccup being pulled completely against his dragon by strong paws, which knocked the air out of Hiccup's lungs. "Toothless...can't...breathe". He felt like he was in one of his father's bone crushing hugs. Now that he couldn't use his arms, Hiccup started to kick his dragon awake. He accidentally kicked with his left leg which caused him to yelp. Toothless woke up immediately, then loosened his hold on Hiccup. He looked down at his rider in concern.

"Morning bud... Can I get up?" Hiccup asked with a smile. Toothless let go of Hiccup and got to his feet, not taking his eyes off his rider as the boy sat up against the bed and reached for his prosthetic that was on the ground near him. Toothless swiftly took the fake leg and kept it under his paw. "Toothless...wha?" Hiccup didn't know how to react to this. Was he keeping him from getting his leg? Hiccup grabbed his prosthetic and started trying to pull it from its spot. Toothless watched on, amused. The amputated Viking stopped his useless efforts and turned to the dragon, not at all amused.

"Toothless, this isn't funny." he said, noticing the playful glint in his dragon's eyes. "Give me my leg back!" In an instant, Toothless' expression turned serious and he pulled the leg away a bit more. The truth is, he wanted to confront Hiccup about what he was going through and he didn't want him running away from this confrontation. Hiccup sighed as he seemed to understand what his dragon wanted. "Okay, you've got my attention. What is this about?"

Toothless leaned down and sniffed his human's left leg...well...the stump, then looked up at the boy's emerald eyes in concern. _Of course he's worried! After how he saw me yesterday, how could he not be?_ "Oh... That. Don't worry, I'm fine bud." he said, looking away.

Apparently, that wasn't the answer Toothless wanted to hear, because he growled slightly. "Toothless, I'm _fine_!" The dragon growled louder, this time whining a little, making him seem all the more worried and annoyed by Hiccup.

The boy knew he couldn't just say he was fine and be done with it. He had to explain himself; he kept a secret from his best friend. He sighed "I'm sorry for the scare bud... The truth is I haven't been sleeping well lately... My leg, it...it hurts. It always wakes me up, then I can't go back to sleep. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just didn't want you to worry. I shouldn't have kept it from you... You helped me a lot last night bud, thanks" Hiccup smiled and for the first time in a while, the smile reached his eyes that had no bags underneath.

This little speech seemed to make Toothless happy, since he finally let his rider have his leg back which he then put on. "Are you hungry?" the young Viking asked. His response was a joyful night fury jumping up on the rafters _again_. Hiccup laughed at this "okay, settle down bud"

After breakfast, the duo went out for their morning flight and stunts. When they returned, Hiccup braced himself for yet another Viking/dragon problem to solve. Yet no one came. He looked around and saw that everyone was getting along. "Well this is refreshing, isn't it? Looks like a few weeks are all it took!" Toothless grumbled happily in response. Looks like today won't be so tiring. "What should we do now?"

They started walking around because though they were seeing it, they still had trouble believing that every Viking was doing well with their dragons. As they walked, Toothless noticed that the weight Hiccup laid on him was considerably lighter than the day before. It looks like he really was well rested. The dragon did see the occasional wince his rider had while walking, which meant it still hurt...odd, it didn't usually hurt during the day...did it? Hiccup noticed Toothless staring at him "You okay bud?" They passed the forge and Toothless noticed a certain one-armed one-legged Viking who always seemed to get along with Hiccup. _He can probably help him_ is what thought Toothless as he started pushing Hiccup towards the forge.

"Toothless what are you doing?" Hiccup complained.

Seeing the boy come in, Gobber looked up at him "Gud morning Hiccup! What brings yuh here today?" He asked, joyfully as always.

"I don't know, Toothless pushed me in, so maybe you should ask him." He answered sarcastically, gesturing to his dragon. The night furry simply nudged Hiccup's leg and crooned. Hiccup gave an exasperated sigh "Toothless! I already _told_ you! _I'm fine_!!!" Toothless growled, and then his human ran a hand through his hair and mumbled "Why do I even bother?"

"Trouble with yer leg?" Gobber asked, giving him more attention. He'd been slightly concerned about the boy. He knows what it's like to lose a limb and Hiccup seemed too young to have to deal with that.

"No!" Hiccup answered automatically. "No, everything's great, well, you know, as great as things can be with... Only one leg" Toothless crooned sadly "Will you quit feeling sorry for me!?"

"Ah don't think that's gonna happen Hiccup. That dragon loves yah too much. Besides, He's not the only one who feels sorry for yuh" Gobber said in his thick accent.

"Wait, _you_ feel sorry for me?"

"Well, yeah. Ah know whot it's like and yu're too young to have to go thrugh losin' a leg! Now tell me what's trublin' ya"

Hiccup seemed taken aback by Gobber assuming there was a problem. Was there? Was it this obvious that his leg was hurting him right now? "Me?...no-nothing. Nope, no problem with me."

"Oh right, Ah believe yah! Yu're so obviously fine, Yu are." Gobber said with extreme sarcasm. Hiccup face palmed at how obvious he made it that he wasn't as fine as he pretended. "Why would Tuthless push yuh in here anyway? Dragons are very smart yeh know. 'e knows if somethin's wrong with yuh"

Hiccup considered this. If Toothless already knew and Gobber probably knew, he might as well say it. He looked to the ground and spoke "my leg hurts...a lot. At night"

Gobber stopped working on the broken axe he had in front of him and looked at Hiccup with sympathy, a rarely shown emotion for Vikings "Aye, Ah understand. Yeh got phantom pains. Those are always tough on every Viking, but don't worry. They'll go away" This seemed to relieve Hiccup a great deal. Gobber noticed that Hiccup was holding onto Toothless and put absolutely no weight on his left foot. "Is yer leg hurtin' yuh now?"

"No, no, it's f-" Hiccup started, but then got a warning look from Toothless. He sighed "okay, maybe it hurts a _bit_ , but it's nothing I can't handle."

"Sure, Hiccup. If yeh can handle it though, yuh should try standing on yer own. Yeh can't stay glued to that dragon forever."

Hiccup, trying to prove himself, as always, slowly let go of Toothless, while the dragon kept his eyes on his rider. He was then standing on his own, but putting all his weight on his right leg "There. See? Standing."

"Well, it's a start. Now try walking by yurself" Said Gobber, knowing that standing on one leg wasn't good enough. It didn't really show improvement.

"Come on, Gobber! You're killing me!" Hiccup knew he couldn't walk by himself without falling over or at least showing that it hurt.

"If yuh really are fine, then yuh should be able to walk on your own by now" the blacksmith was trying to get his apprentice to see that he wasn't as fine as he thought.

Wanting to prove himself once more, Hiccup inhaled and took a step forward. If he'd done it before, he could do it again. What he forgot was that his leg hadn't hurt as much the first time he walked on it, so when he tried walking in front of Gobber, the pain amplified with the weight he placed on it and he fell over and landed on Toothless' head that had lunged forward to catch him. The pain was clear on Hiccup's face.

"Okay Gobber, you win. I can't walk, my leg hurts too much"

"When's the last time yuh changed that bandage?" Gobber asked.

"My dad changed it a few days ago"

"Well, it looks like it's time ta change it again. Sit down" Gobber said as he went to get what he needed.

Toothless led Hiccup to a stool which the boy sat on, then he backed up a bit to give Gobber some space when he returned.

"I don't understand though... It never hurt like this in the daytime" this confused Hiccup greatly. Gobber removed the boy's prosthetic and Hiccup winced. Then Gobber started removing the bandage.

"That's were yer wrong Hiccup. It always hurt like this, yuh were just too distracted ta notice."

"Too distracted?"

"Yep, with everyone always askin' fer yer help, yuh didn't realize yer leg was hurtin' yah"

"That would explain why I feel like it hurts more today... I need to keep busy, but how?" Hiccup hissed when the bandage was off, exposing his new and fragile skin to the air. Gobber gave him a sympathetic look before returning his attention to the stump.

"Looks like it's healin' well. No signs of infection, thank Thor" Gobber started cleaning the stump with care, knowing how sensitive it can be. Hiccup kept quiet through this, not trusting his voice while in pain. Tears threatened to spill, but Hiccup kept his eyes shut tightly, forcing them not to. Gobber noticed this. "It's okay to cry Hiccup. I won't think any less of yuh" Hiccup defiantly shook his head, but a few tears escaped despite his efforts. "There, Ah'm done" Gobber said, when he was done cleaning the wound.

Hiccup let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and wiped his tears. "Thanks Gobber"

"Now, about what we were sayin' earlier. It's true that bein' distracted helps put yer mind off the pain, but what yuh really need is to push through it." Gobber said as he applied an ointment on the stump, then started wrapping it up in a new bandage.

"What do you think I've been doing?" Hiccup asked, slightly irritated.

"Yuh've been avoidin' it. Yuh became completely dependent of that dragon. What yuh need to do is learn to walk by yurself."

"Great. How am I supposed to walk if only standing hurts!? Don't answer that. I have to have a Viking attitude towards this and _Tough through tha pain_ " Hiccup said the last part in his tough Viking impression.

Gobber chuckled "Maybe not" He said, finished with the bandage. "Does it hurt now?"

Hiccup gave him an ‘ _are you kidding?’_ Look, then he noticed that all the pain was gone from his leg as if it was never there in the first place. "no...no, it doesn't! What the..."

Gobber laughed again, Hiccup's face was priceless. He took the ointment he'd put on Hiccup's leg and handed it to him "Here, put this on yer leg before yuh go to bed and yuh'll sleep like a baby"

Hiccup was at a loss for words, all he could think of was "Thanks!" He had a hard time believing that just like that, he might actually be able to sleep through the night and he'd soon be able to walk. Suddenly, his leg didn't seem like such a big obstacle.

Toothless nudged Hiccup, asking for attention. The boy chuckled "And thank you too, for forcing me to come here" From the moment his best friend learned what he was going through, it all started getting better. Hiccup realized that he really _shouldn't_ have kept this from Toothless. As he rubbed his dragon's head, making him purr, something crossed Hiccup's mind. "eh... Gobber? If you've had this painkiller thing with you the whole time... Why didn't you give it to me before? I mean it's been almost a month!"

Gobber raised his hands defensively "Ah tried, but yuh were too busy!" They laughed, both knowing that Gobber had simply forgotten about it.

Hiccup put his prosthetic leg back on and stood up, daring to put some weight on it and smiling when he saw that he could. "Come on Toothless, I know what we're gonna do today" He said joyfully, leaning slightly on Toothless while they headed out, but only to keep his balance. "Thanks again Gobber!" Hiccup gratefully yelled behind him.

The boy and his dragon went to the cove where Toothless relearned how to fly so that Hiccup could relearn how to walk.


	3. A Little Push

The day was still young when Hiccup and Toothless got to the cove. For the first time in a long time, Hiccup was happy. In fact, the last time he’d been truly happy had been when he and Toothless were in this same cove, before the war ended. After that, all hell broke loose and Hiccup only had his morning flights with Toothless to clear his head, be happy and stay sane.

Now everything changed: the people of Berk seemed to be doing okay with their dragons, Hiccup no longer had to worry about his night pains thanks to Toothless and Gobber gave him an ointment that made the pain go away. With all his burden off his shoulders, Hiccup was finally happy.

The lack of pain wasn’t enough though. As Gobber said, Hiccup had to get his balance back; he had to learn how to walk. This is why he and Toothless were now in the cove.

Upon landing, Toothless did something Hiccup didn’t expect; he threw Hiccup off, making sure he landed in soft grass.

“Ah! Toothless! _Why_ would you _do_ that?” Hiccup exclaimed, but when he looked at Toothless, the dragon crouched down playfully, with his tongue sticking out. Hiccup laughed “Okay, you wanna play; it’s no reason to throw me off though”

Hiccup struggled to his feet, daring to divide the weight between both his legs equally; it didn’t hurt. As soon as he was standing, Toothless started running around the cove. Hiccup looked on, amused and puzzled.

“Toothless, what are you doing?” He asked his dragon who was now at the other side of the cove.

The dragon answered by crouching and giving his rider a challenging look. Then he ran off again. Hiccup got the message that Toothless wanted him to chase him.

“Toothless, I can barely walk! What makes you think I can run?” Hiccup shouted out.

Toothless didn’t pay attention to what Hiccup said, so the young viking tried walking on his own. Looking down at his feet, he took a careful step forward with his right foot, then his left. He laughed in relief when he didn’t fall or feel pain. Then he tried another step with his right foot; this time he lost his balance a bit, but he managed not to fall.

He took a few steps like this, with his arms out on each side to be more balanced. Toothless had stopped running a while back and watched his rider from a distance. He was proud of his friend, but knew that it could take forever for him to get used to walking at this rate. Toothless sighed, then went back to his initial plan.

He rushed to Hiccup and sneaked behind him, which was easy, since the boy was so focused on his steps. The dragon pushed Hiccup in the back, making the viking’s steps falter, but he managed to catch himself. This made Hiccup go a bit faster, but the human in question did not like this. “Toothless!” He complained. Toothless pushed Hiccup again, trying to make him go faster, which only resulted in making the boy fall over this time.

“Toothless! What’s with you? I’m trying to walk here, couldn’t you make yourself useful instead of making me fall?” Hiccup scolded, as he tried to get up. Toothless helped Hiccup get to his feet (foot), then stood in front of him with his head down, sad at getting his human mad at him.

Hiccup sighed at this gesture, unable to remain angry with Toothless. “Look, I’m sorry bud, I guess I’m just frustrated with all this walking” Toothless started nuzzling Hiccup’s chest and Hiccup pated his head “I mean walking’s supposed to come naturally, you know? Unless you’re a baby I guess, but I don’t like having to learn this again and it’s put me a bit on edge.” Just now, Hiccup noticed that Toothless wasn’t nuzzling him. He had his head in Hiccup’s vest. He was... looking for something? “Toothless, what are you doing? I don’t have any fish on me bud”

Finding what he was looking for, Toothless closed his gums over the object and pulled back. “What do you have there?” Hiccup asked. Just then, Toothless gave him a gummy smile revealing the boy’s journal between his gums. “Hey! Give that back!” Hiccup exclaimed, but it only made Toothless crouch down again and run away. The dragon’s way of saying _Why don’t you get it from me?_

Hiccup sighed “I really don’t need this right now” He started walking towards the dragon, a bit more determined now. He managed to get a relatively steady pace. He would stumble from time to time, but didn’t stop moving. Toothless stopped and looked behind him. He saw Hiccup was still very far behind him, but at least he was walking a little better. It was still too slow for the dragon’s taste though. He knew it wasn’t easy learning to walk, but he also knew that his Hiccup could do better than this slow stumble.

The dragon ran back to Hiccup, making the boy slow down, but Toothless didn’t stop in front of his friend. He went behind him and gave him another little push. This time it didn’t irritate the boy, since he was starting to catch on to what the night fury was doing. The push made Hiccup go a little faster, then another push made him go even faster, but he almost fell. Luckily, Toothless’ head made its way right under Hiccup’s hand. When the boy was balanced once more, Toothless gave him one last push and went to his side again, gave him a challenging and encouraging look with another smile that revealed the journal. Then the dragon went back to running ahead.

Hiccup finally understood. Toothless wasn’t trying to _annoy_ him. Pushing him and stealing his book was his way of _helping_ him. The boy noticed that he was almost jogging and he was stumbling a lot less. Maybe Toothless was right, maybe he _could_ go a lot faster than he thought. With that in mind, Hiccup pushed himself to go faster and faster until he was running.

Toothless smiled and kept going, but always kept an eye on his rider. Sometimes, Hiccup tripped or stumbled and had to stop to catch himself before he continued running. Every time he stopped or slowed, Toothless stopped and waited. He always gave Hiccup encouraging growls, which kept the boy going.

At some point, Hiccup started stumbling more and more, not because he wasn’t balanced, but because all this running was getting him exhausted. Toothless decided that he needed a break, so he stopped and let Hiccup catch up to him. Though he was out of breath a tired, there was no denying the smile on the viking’s face as he tackled Toothless.

The dragon got Hiccup under him with ease and the boy reached for his journal in Toothless’ mouth. “Come on bud! Give it back!” Toothless dropped the wet journal on Hiccup’s chest. “aw, gross!” The boy exclaimed, trying to get his little book dry. Then Toothless started liking Hiccup’s face, just to annoy him. Hiccup told him to stop, but he was laughing, so his words lost all meaning. Eventually, though, Toothless _did_ stop and let his rider sit up.

“I can’t believe I ran. I actually RAN!” Hiccup said, extremely happy. Toothless crooned, his way of saying that he knew he could do it. “Thanks bud, I couldn’t have done this without you” The dragon growled slightly and gave Hiccup a look saying he didn’t believe him. “It’s true! I would never have thought of running before walking!”

Toothless rested his head on Hiccup’s lap while Hiccup rested against the dragon’s belly. He scratched behind Toothless’ ears, making him purr. “I’ve still got a long way to go, but I think things are finally looking up.” Hiccup closed his eyes and rested.

A few minutes later, Toothless got up suddenly, making Hiccup fall to the ground. The dragon picked him up by the back of his shirt and got Hiccup on his feet. “Toothless? What are you-?”

Hiccup noticed the playful glint in his dragon’s eyes and immediately became defensive. He clutched his journal. “No, you’re not gonna take my journal again, it just dried off!”

Toothless took a step towards Hiccup and Hiccup took a step back. Then the dragon started walking towards Hiccup and the boy turned around and walked a bit faster. It didn’t take long for them to both be running. Toothless matched Hiccup’s speed and stayed right on his tail. When the boy would fall, he’d pull him back up and they’d carry on, or he would lick the back of Hiccup’s head, _then_ he’d pull him up and they would carry on.

Both were laughing and smiling throughout this chase and it was obvious that, indeed, things were starting to look up for the young viking hero.

THE END


End file.
